Descending Angel
by SugarBeatAngel
Summary: Saïx accompanies Naminé in her attempt to "rebel" against her family, with interesting results. One-Shot; Takes place between Chapters 20-22 of "Where Eagles Dare." Mild language.


So this is a one-shot that is a tie in to my story "Where Eagles Dare" and it follows what Naminé and Saïx did between the end of chapter 20 and the beginning of chapter 22.

If you haven't read "Where Eagles Dare" you may be a _tad_ lost. I can summarize _really_ quickly.

This takes place on November 9, 1980 in Los Angeles California. Naminé is the daughter of a Mafia family and a very devout Catholic. In an attempt to escape her body guards (she does this often) she switched clothes with Roxas and forces him to wear a wig and pretend to be her to lead her body guards away while she makes an escape and tries to "rebel." Saïx (a punk) has been in love with Naminé since high school and was forced to go to church by Axel and Roxas in an attempt to bring the two together. This is what ensues:

* * *

"Where are we going!?" Saïx managed to gasp out as Naminé tugged him along the street. But he received no answer from the girl. He was merely dragged along the avenue at an incredible speed for such a small girl. He let her yank him around corners and down alleyways, just trying to keep up with her. Finally they rushed onto a stopped bus and Saïx was able to catch his breath. He heaved as the girl paid their bus fare and followed her slowly toward the back of the bus. Once they sat down he took a deep gulp of air looked to her curiously. "Wh-where are we going?"

Naminé smiled and reached into her purse for a piece of chewing gum. She plopped it into her mouth before offering a piece to the blue haired boy at her side. "Want some?"

Saïx shook his head vigorously and scowled. "No. Now will you tell me where we're going?"

"I don't know." Naminé said quickly and tossed the spare piece of gum back in her purse. "Where do you feel like going?"

Saïx stared at the girl quietly a moment. His heart was pounding but he wasn't sure if it was from the exertion of running or simply just being this close to the girl he'd adored since high school. After a moment he furrowed his brow and sighed. "Wait, you dragged me along and you don't even know where we can go? If your guards catch us…"

"Relax. As soon as we get to wherever we're going, I'll call them on their pagers and let them know not to worry." Naminé smiled cutely and popped a bubble with her gum. "So, where are you taking me?"

Saïx blushed at the girl's words. The mere sound of them suggested this was a date and the thought of that brought blood rushing to his face. He shrugged quickly and looked away from the girl. He had to play it cool. "Ttsh, like I had anywhere in mind. This was your lunatic idea, not mine."

"I suppose we could go to the beach." Naminé said with a shrug. "Everybody likes the beach right?"

"The beach? Do you know how far away the beach is from here?" Saïx cocked an eyebrow at the blonde girl curiously. "Wait, just exactly how long did you tell Roxas you would be?"

"I told him five hours." Naminé smiled brightly. "I have to have plenty of time to prove to him just how wrong he is about me. I am _so_ a rebel and everybody is going to see just what kind of rebel I am."

Saïx snorted and rolled his eyes but inside he was smiling. "Oh yeah, you're real hard core."

"Don't patronize me." Naminé said shortly before pulling out a compact and adjusting the wig on her head. "Does it look alright?"

"It looks ridiculous. Take it off, nobody is going to recognize you. Not in the part of town we're headed." Saïx looked to the front of the bus and saw that they were headed into the unsavory part of Arcadia, though he'd taken these busses enough times to know that without having to look. "Well you sure picked the wrong bus to jump on."

"Oh no, it's the right bus. Its parts of town like these where people are willing to do anything for money." Naminé said excitedly and pulled the cord dangling above her head.

Saïx looked to Naminé and shook his head. The girl's naivety would be her undoing. The bus slowed to a crawl and it was now that Naminé grabbed his arm in her hand and tugged him off the bus. As soon as they stepped onto the concrete the girl was out of his sight. A slight moment of panic filled his heart until he spotted her a few feet away offering a bum five dollars if he'd let her take a drag from his cigarette. He rushed toward her shaking his head vigorously. "Naminé, don't!" But it was too late. The girl had already took a deep inhale and Saïx swore he could see a greenish tint on her face. He chuckled as she coughed and hacked and then her cheeks puffed out in that tell-tale sign that she was going to vomit. He watched her spew into the gutter, a slight dribble falling onto Roxas' good church pants. He put his hands on his hips as he approached her, tapping his foot when he finally reached her side. "Are you quite done now?"

Naminé shook her head as another mouthful of vomit rocketed up her throat and into the gutter. She pulled the wig off her head and wiped her mouth with it before standing up straight to face Saïx. "No. I _know_ if I try hard enough I can handle that cigarette. Let me just try a bit more."

Saïx caught Naminé's wrist in his hand as the girl started back toward the bum. "Naminé, stop. What is your _deal_? Back in high school you used to be this sweet, perfect little girl. Now you're sneaking away from your guards and trying to do all these bad things! What happened to that sweet girl?"

"You know, I am so sick of that! That is the reason I'm trying to rebel! Because everybody views me as this sweet little girl! Everybody I ever knew, and my whole family too! You think I don't know what kind of dangerous and illegal things my family does? I know all of it! I could give you a list of the people they've killed. I could tell you the names of all their drug dealing thugs. But ever since I can remember, they always whisper around me! Stuff like, _"Don't let sweet little Nami hear."_ or _"We gotta protect Nami from the family business."_ like I'm some kind of baby! They've gone so far as to even force me to live with my uncle, far away from my home and the family business. They want me to grow up and become a devout Catholic and be their sweet little baby angel but I'm sick of it! This angel is descending! I'm tired of them thinking I'm sweet and perfect! I have flaws! I'm no angel!" Naminé crossed her arms and huffed loudly. "That's my _deal_."

Saïx couldn't help the small laugh that rose up in his throat. He shook his head at the blonde and crossed his arms to counter her stance. "Look, if you want your family's respect, you're going about it the wrong way. Sneaking around behind their backs and acting out isn't going to change their opinion of you. Whatever you do secretly remains a secret. They're never going to view you in a different light if you don't start acting out in front of them. Sure, they might have a coronary at first. But eventually they'll accept the changes they see in you. That's the best way to get your family to quit treating you like a baby. Not by doing idiotic stuff like this."

Naminé looked down at the ground in thought before turning her gaze up to Saïx. "And you don't think I'm a baby?"

"No." Saïx smiled softly, perhaps the first genuine smile he'd had in a long time. He put his hand on Naminé's head and ruffled her hair gently. "No, I don't think you're a baby. I've kind of always saw you as an inspiration, really. You were the bravest person I ever met."

Naminé smiled up at Saïx with bright eyes. "Really!? What did I do to make you think that?"

Saïx chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, for one, you came up and talked to me that day at school despite all the rumors going around about me."

Naminé shrugged and smiled. "I don't listen to rumors. Besides, growing up with a family like I have, you tend to be desensitized to gruesome stories. And I just knew that those stories were too horrible to be true. And…" She looked away from the blue haired boy to avoid the light blush she could feel on her cheeks. "You looked like you needed a friend, and so did I. We were the two outcasts at school. I thought that we could be friends. Nobody would have ever talked to us otherwise."

Saïx shook his head. "That's not true. Guys were always asking you out all the time."

"Yeah, as a joke." Naminé sighed sadly. "They had a contest going on to see which one of them could take the little Catholic girl's virginity first. That's all that was."

"Well if I would have known that, I would have kicked their asses." Saïx felt a twitch of his lip wanting to smile, but he was also being entirely serious. He would have gladly wailed on any of the dumb jocks that approached the girl. He'd always envied their courage in talking to her anyway, he didn't need much of an excuse to want to fight them. But that was all in the past now. Now things were different. He sighed and glanced at an approaching bus getting ready to make a stop. "So, how about we hit the beach?"

Naminé jumped in excitement and nodded quickly.

--

"Wow! I've always read about Venice Beach but I've never actually been here! It is amazing! And there are so many interesting people!" Naminé looked with wide eyes all around at the displays people had set up. Some were performers, some were artists, all of them were looking for money in exchange for their talent. Every piece of art she passed by, she longed to just buy it but she knew she couldn't. "Everything here is so amazing Saïx! This is way better than Long Beach! Thank you!"

Saïx shrugged as he walked beside the blonde, hands in his pockets. "You were the one that came up with the beach idea. I just suggested the closer of the two. And this one is within walking distance of the Santa Monica pier, which I'm willing to bet you've also never been to."

"Oh, is it!?" Naminé grabbed Saïx's arm in her hand and tugged on it quickly. "Please take me! I've always wanted to go!"

"Well, we're nearly there. We've been walking along for quite a while now." Saïx looked out at the ocean with a light smile. "Time really flies when you're having fun."

Naminé looked to Saïx with a big grin. "You're having fun with me!? And here I was worried you'd be miserable."

Saïx looked to the blonde and raised a brow. "Miserable? Why would you think that?"

Naminé shrugged and looked from the blue haired boy to the sidewalk below her feet. "Well, you never talked to me in high school. After that day, I thought the lines of communication were open. But you never said a word to me after that. I figured you must hate me for being so nosey."

"Hate you!? Naminé I've always…" Saïx stopped his stream of speech before he said more than he meant to say. He nudged the girl gently with his elbow and forced a smile. "Truth be told, I admired you and I didn't want to soil your reputation by having anybody see you talking to me. I didn't want them to say anything bad about you."

Naminé giggled and wrapped her arm around Saïx's. "Well what would they say if they could see us now?"

Saïx snickered and rolled his eyes. "Probably the same old bull shit they would have said then. People for the most part are pathetic, vapid and idiotic. I'm glad at least one person I know isn't like that."

"Oh." Naminé whimpered lightly but didn't pull away from the boy. She didn't want to bring down the mood, even though now she knew he viewed her as pathetic, vapid and idiotic. She let him lead her to the massive pier and once they reached the amusement park, he lead her right for the ferris wheel. The sun was beginning to set and the lights were already shining on the wheel. It was truly a beautiful sight. She was just excited to be there. They climbed onto the ride and the gondola started up. But the higher they rose, the more Naminé realized, she was terrified of heights. She clasped onto Saïx's arm and held on tight. "I think I'm afraid of being up this high."

Saïx snickered. "You're just now finding that out?"

Naminé nodded quickly and buried her face in the sleeve of Saïx's coat. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Saïx grabbed the girl's hand in his and held it tight. "There's nothing to be scared of though. Come on, I know you're brave."

Naminé shook her head. "No, I'm pathetic."

Saïx laughed and squeezed her hand. "No, you're not."

"You said I was." Naminé peeked up from where she kept her face buried and looked at Saïx. "You said I'm pathetic and vapid and idiotic."

"No. I said that most people are. And that I'm glad at least one person I know isn't that way. And that person is you, Naminé. You're everything great about humanity that I'd given up hope on altogether. You made me realize that the world isn't just full of douche bags. That there are good, honest people out there that are worth the air they breathe, and you are one of those people." Saïx put a hand to the blonde's cheek and forced her to look at him. "Naminé, I've always thought you were amazing. I…"

Naminé lurched forward and pressed her lips to Saïx's before the boy could finish talking. When she pulled away they sat blinking at each other in shock, but it didn't stop her from leaning forward and kissing him again. She let her free hand slide up his face to toy with his ear piercings as she kissed him softly. Again, she pulled away at stared up at him in awe. "I… I'm sorry."

Saïx shook his head quickly before capturing Naminé's lips against his again. He kissed her gently and caressed her cheek with his thumb. When he pulled back, he stared down at the girl with wide eyes. "I never thought that I could get anywhere near something like _this_ with _you_. Naminé, I…"

Naminé pressed her mouth to Saïx's cheek and smiled brightly. "You're my boyfriend now. Alright?"

Saïx blinked at the girl and nodded slowly. "Uhm, a-alright."

"And I want you to take me out this Friday. But nothing fancy. I want to go where _you_ want to go. Somewhere I've never been before! Somewhere fun and exciting." Naminé shifted the hand that was in Saïx's so that her fingers laced with his. "Will you?"

Saïx smiled and planted a small kiss on the blonde girl's nose. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that…"


End file.
